Category: Politics and Government

“Unicorn Portrait,” a short story by William Torphy, was a short-listed entry in the Jerry Jazz Musician’s recently concluded 61st Short Fiction Contest and is published with the consent of the author. Unicorn Portrait by William Torphy …..David Wyler slammed the… Read More

By Meitav Aaron, Jewish Museum Milwaukee Intern During times of collective crisis, the priorities of our government are laid bare for our entire country to witness.  During the height of the Great Depression, when closed signs were scattered on shop windows… Read More

As Jewish Museum Milwaukee prepares to exhibit Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman, we wanted to highlight women who have taken a stand. While some like Faye Schulman, were part of an organized movement or… Read More

Since Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare opened many local colleges have assigned students to view and respond to the exhibit. At the Museum, we generally do not get to read their responses, so the staff was delighted when UW-Milwaukee History Professor Christine… Read More

On October 11, 2018, Jewish Museum Milwaukee opened Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare with a Premiere featuring Gene Policinski, one of the most eminent journalists on First Amendment Rights, a founder of USA Today, and President and COO of the Freedom… Read More

As Jewish Museum Milwaukee prepares to launch Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare, one might ask: What’s Jewish or Milwaukee about the Hollywood Red Scare? The answer could be: What isn’t? Learn more about local and Jewish connections to the Hollywood Red Scare here.

In planning for the anticipated return of Stitching History From The Holocaust and the added stories of the Oelsner and Spira/Stern families, Jewish Museum Milwaukee was excited to present a timeline that would integrate their narratives with the Strnad’s and provide context for events surrounding World War II. Little did we know that in contextualizing the individual experiences that happened seventy-five years ago, we would encounter disturbing parallels to what we are witnessing in our world today.

Check out how Jewish Museum Milwaukee found additional photos and documents relating to Hedy Strnad and her family. These additions show the evolution of Stitching History From the Holocaust, but also demonstrate that historical research is never done. There will always be more archives to explore and people to connect with, but each small salient connection like these helps expand our understanding of the lived experience.

JMM occupies a unique niche in the museum world in Milwaukee. We use the Jewish experience to build bridges between groups of people and between eras. We live our tagline “Where Conversations Happen” by looking at multiple perspectives of a topic or issue, by partnering with diverse organizations, by asking visitors to use critical thinking skills to contemplate commonalities and differences of a particular subject over time.

By Sharon Levy, Intern In June of 1878 a young woman graduated as valedictorian from East Side High. Her name was Lizzie Black. She’s more commonly known in the Milwaukee Jewish community by her married name—Lizzie Kander, the founder of… Read More

By: Michael Fishbach I began interning at Jewish Museum Milwaukee a month ago, and last week, I took my first guided tour with a group of students from Rufus King Middle School.  We first toured the visiting exhibit, which consisted… Read More

1936. Lodz. The Szyk Haggadah, The Family at the Seder.     The Szyk Haggadah Reminds Us of Struggles Past and Present By Molly Dubin, Jewish Museum Milwaukee Curator Passover and politics.  It seems rather fitting that as we find… Read More

Arthur Szyk was an immigrant to the US, but felt deeply for African Americans and portrayed their struggle in his artwork.

By: Patti Sherman-Cisler, Executive Director, Jewish Museum Milwaukee This editorial appeared in the February 2016 edition of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.   The Jewish Museum Milwaukee will present the work of mid-20th century artist and activist Arthur Szyk, (pronounced “Shik”),… Read More

When the Democratic candidates for president face-off tomorrow in the Helen Bader Concert Hall in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, we are fairly certain that this is the first time a debate… Read More

By: Ellie Gettinger, Education Director In researching and developing Southern Exposure: The Jews of Argentina, one of the stories that really stuck with me was that of Adolph Eichmann and his presence in Argentina. Following World War II, Juan Peron,… Read More

This is feedback from a person who saw the piece about the exhibit on PBS NewsHour Weekend: I just watched a PBS video on Facebook about the Stitching History exhibit. My great grandfather was fortunate to leave Germany in search of… Read More

By Ellie Gettinger, Education Director On September 27, the life of this small museum was turned upside down.  Samuel Freedman published a loving and fantastic article about Stitching History From the Holocaust.  He wrote, “The fashions are both text and textile, a… Read More